Monday, 10 June 2013

Is it about qualifying for a
competition with the aspiration of winning it or is it just a financial
imperative? Certainly intention should be at the heart of a journey in the
Champions League and in that respect some clubs go into it with the belief that
they can win, some with the desire to have a bloody good crack and some just
for the ride. So where do we, the Arsenal, stand in this equation?

Back in the heady days of
2004, 05, 06 I felt that the club and our squad believed that winning it was an
achievable goal and our results against Europe’s elite made it clear that we
were ‘in amongst it” which we proved by reaching the final, unfortunately we
have yet to return to that summit. Even the most biased supporter of the Arsenal
would admit that Europe’s top prize is a glaring omission from our proud
history. Yes we know about Liverpool & Manchester United (and yes, Chelsea)
but Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa who have been nowhere near as consistent
domestically, have reached the summit.

European achievement has
been a fleeting visitor for us with two trophies to our name. If it should have been more is hard to
quantify, let us not forget that some of our title triumphs were in an era
where there was no European Club competitions, the 1989 Champions were unable
to compete due to EUFA’s ban on English clubs (other clubs notably Everton were
deprived of a shot at glory by EUFA’s punishment) and the 1991 team were the
first English team to enter the European Cup following the ban and therefore
had no experience to take into the fray: but these are no excuses just matters
of record.

History is history so I’m
going to cast a speculative eye towards the future. The Champions League is the
ultimate club honour but are we equipped to compete for it or are we there next
season, pending a qualifying round, to make up the numbers? The difference, I
think, in this instance is that there has not been a better opportunity to take
a serious tilt at the Premier League for a good number of years. To say that
2013/14 is a transitional season for all the clubs you would expect to be
challenging is an understatement, but is our stability a major advantage or is
that stability in fact stagnation?

I think that the ECL is
still a step too far but the Premiership is a realistic target for our current
squad with the right additions. And that is the key point: the calibre of those
additions. Until we see the requisite quality of player holding up the Arsenal
shirt self-consciously for the media at a press conference we have no idea what
next season holds. One thing is for sure is that in this commerce driven era
the top players will want to come to a club that is in the ECL and maybe that’s
the true value of qualification.

Views, opinions and that...

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